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Haitang City.
Early morning.
Just as dawn broke, the high-ranking officials and nobles throughout the city were already in chaos.
Sixty-eight corpses were densely nailed to the outer wall of the Nine Heart Begonia Family, all of them Spirit Masters, and all high-ranking members of the Nine Heart Begonia Family. The weakest among them were Spirit Emperors. The Clan Chief of the Nine Heart Begonia Family and many Elders had all perished.
For a time, the entire Haitang City was filled with apprehension. The City Lord immediately ordered a city-wide lockdown and dispatched people to report to Heaven Dou City, the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire.
Of course, the City Lord of Haitang City also understood that the lockdown within the city was futile. Since the culprits could slaughter the strongest group from the Nine Heart Begonia Family in one night, how could his soldiers and generals possibly resist such power? He only prayed that those who killed the Spirit Masters of the Nine Heart Begonia Family would not come for him.
The Heaven Dou Empire naturally had its own special communication methods. In just two short hours, Heaven Dou City, the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire, had already received the news.
Emperor Xue Ye sat upon his throne, looking at the urgent document in his hand. He couldn't help but frown, subconsciously gripping the document tighter as he commanded, "Call Xue Qinghe here."
"Yes, Your Majesty. This servant will go at once." The attending servant quickly exited the palace.
"Your son greets Father Emperor." In less than a quarter of an hour, Xue Qinghe's figure appeared in the main hall.
"Xue Qinghe, how did you handle the matter with Master Shi?" Emperor Xue Ye asked in a deep voice.
A glint flashed in Xue Qinghe's eyes. He looked up and recounted the reply he had given to Shi Quan at the Crown Prince Residence to Emperor Xue Ye again.
After listening, Emperor Xue Ye couldn't help but fall silent, as Xue Qinghe's handling of the matter was indeed without issue.
"Look at this document; it was sent urgently from Haitang City this morning." A servant took the document from Emperor Xue Ye's hand and passed it to Xue Qinghe.
Xue Qinghe took the document. When he finished reading its contents, his expression couldn't help but show surprise. He hadn't expected Shi Quan to act so quickly and decisively, hunting down sixty-eight people in one night without the Nine Heart Begonia Family detecting any abnormality.
"Xue Qinghe, isn't this matter a bit too coincidental?" Emperor Xue Ye's scrutinizing gaze fell upon Xue Qinghe.
Xue Qinghe directly stated, "Father Emperor, your son does not believe it is a coincidence. I believe this matter was done by Master Shi."
Emperor Xue Ye said in a deep voice, "According to the report, the killed individuals fall into five categories: one with penetrating wounds, one poisoned, one bound to death, one killed by heavy impact, and another with no obvious surface injuries, likely killed by a spiritual Spirit Master. This means at least five people. Even with heavy rain, to silently kill so many people within the Nine Heart Begonia Family, these five individuals must all be at least Spirit Douluo and above."
Xue Qinghe calmly stated, "Father Emperor, the Three Great Committee Members have always been at Heaven Dou Royal Academy and are unrelated to this matter. I don't know where Master Shi received this assistance. It must be from friends he made during his travels."
Emperor Xue Ye continued to ask, "How do you think this matter should be handled?"
"The Nine Heart Begonia Family has been severely damaged. The Empire can take this opportunity to annex them under the pretext of investigating the culprits. Whether this matter was done by Master Shi is merely my son's conjecture, and there is no evidence. The Empire will naturally need time to investigate."
Emperor Xue Ye pondered for a moment, then said, "You are responsible for following up on the annexation of the Nine Heart Begonia Family. This matter can only happen once, not twice. Sixty-eight Spirit Masters, all above Spirit Emperor rank, is a considerable loss for the Empire. Also, thoroughly investigate the people who acted."
"Your son understands." Xue Qinghe nodded.
"Go." Emperor Xue Ye waved his hand.
"Your son takes his leave." Xue Qinghe then turned and departed.
Watching Xue Qinghe's departing figure, Emperor Xue Ye remained silent for a long while before slowly saying, "Send people to secretly investigate this matter."
"Understood, Your Majesty." A dark figure emerged from behind Emperor Xue Ye and vanished into the main hall.
The sudden emergence of power behind Shi Quan made Emperor Xue Ye somewhat wary of him. On the continent, to silently destroy a Spirit Master Family with two Spirit Douluo in one night, Emperor Xue Ye truly couldn't think of any other force besides Spirit Hall.
If the investigation reveals that these mysterious individuals are not affiliated with Spirit Hall, then it's fine. But if they are connected to Spirit Hall, then even if Shi Quan is beneficial to the Empire, he can only be nipped in the bud.
Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
After Xue Qinghe left the main hall, he ordered someone to send a letter detailing the events in Haitang City to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
Ning Fengzhi's expression became solemn as he read the contents of the letter.
He hadn't expected Shi Quan to be so ruthless and decisive in his actions.
"Ning Fengzhi, does this Shi Quan actually have so many masters hidden behind him?" Sword Douluo exclaimed in surprise.
Ning Fengzhi frowned in distress, "Unknowingly, this Shi Quan has grown to a degree that we can no longer ignore. It seems these three Spirit Bones will have to be even better."
"Silently assassinating sixty-eight members of the Nine Heart Begonia Family, including two Spirit Douluo." Bone Douluo's expression also turned serious. "Killing is easy, but to kill silently, even if Chen Xin and I, these old guys, acted together, we couldn't do it. How did they manage it?"
"From the investigation of the corpses, at least five people participated in the operation. Dugu Bo must have been among them. As for the other four, it's hard to say, especially the mysterious Tool Spirit expert with penetrating wounds. He killed the most people, and one of them was a Spirit Douluo, so he must be at least a Titled Douluo, and his strength is probably even greater than Dugu Bo's."
Sword Douluo said cautiously, "As for the other three, their strength is at least around Spirit Douluo. Two Titled Douluo and three Spirit Douluo. How can Shi Quan mobilize so many powerful individuals? Is there some force behind this?"
"Uncle Sword, are you suggesting Spirit Hall?" Ning Fengzhi looked at Sword Douluo.
Sword Douluo nodded, "There is such a possibility."
Ning Fengzhi, however, shook his head, "This Shi Quan is extraordinarily intelligent and has a steady Mind. If he were truly a hidden chess piece of Spirit Hall, why would he expose himself so easily for such a small matter?"
Bone Douluo, however, said, "Ning Fengzhi, isn't there a saying, 'Cleverness may overreach itself'? Is it possible that he is deliberately trying to mislead you by leveraging your understanding of him? Otherwise, how do you explain these suddenly appearing powerful individuals?"
"Uncle Bone, what you say is not without reason. His Majesty will certainly be suspicious and investigate Shi Quan because of this matter. However, if Shi Quan is not problematic, this might be an opportunity for us to form a good relationship with him."
A glint flashed in Ning Fengzhi's eyes, "The Spirit Bone matter must be expedited…"
On the other side, Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
After Shi Quan and his group nailed the corpses of the Nine Heart Begonia Family members to the outer wall, they returned to Heaven Dou Royal Academy overnight.
At this moment, everyone was leisurely doing their own things, as if nothing had happened.
The night's assassination brought Shi Quan and the others considerable gains, with a total of four Spirit Bones.
One of them was obtained from the Nine Heart Begonia Family's treasury, and the other three were obtained from the slain Spirit Masters' bodies.
Three of them were thousand-year-level Spirit Bones, and only one was around ten thousand years old, though its age was only about ten thousand years.
As for their attributes, from perception, two were oriented towards explosive power, one water-attributed, and one lightning-attributed.
Although the age was not high, Shi Quan, who possessed the Spirit Bone modifier, had no requirements regarding age. As long as the quantity was sufficient, he could completely use the Spirit Bone modifier to fuse and modify these Spirit Bones into a top-grade Spirit Bone suitable for everyone.
As for other things, besides money, most were rare treasures, such as special metals, some spirit tools with special uses, and some medicinal herbs. Although they weren't of much use to Shi Quan, after categorizing them, Shi Quan put them all in his hundred treasure pouch. After all, the hundred treasure pouch's space was infinite, and they might come in handy sometime.
"Shi Quan, Xue Qinghe is here." Shi Quan was in the room studying soul spirits when Ye Lingling's voice came from outside.
Upon hearing this, Shi Quan immediately walked out of the room.
"Big Brother Xue, may I ask the reason for your sudden visit?" Shi Quan greeted him with a beaming smile.
Xue Qinghe smiled, "Little Brother Shi, don't you know?"
Shi Quan feigned ignorance, "I don't understand what Big Brother Xue is saying?"
Xue Qinghe shook his head, "Let's talk in your room."
"Let's go."
Shi Quan smiled and led Xue Qinghe into the room.
"You truly caught me off guard." As soon as they sat down in the room, Xue Qinghe's helpless voice sounded.
"I said I would handle it myself."
"If you had just caused a big commotion, it would have been easier to clean up this matter. But you chose to raid and kill sixty-eight Spirit Masters of the Nine Heart Begonia Family in the rainy night, with the lowest strength being Spirit Emperor, and without attracting anyone's attention. This act is too shocking." Xue Qinghe shook his head. "Although you didn't leave any evidence for this matter, a little investigation will lead to the conclusion that it was you. His Majesty has already become suspicious of you, and so has Grandmaster."
"Suspicion?" Shi Quan slowly said, "It's fine. They are just worried that these powerful individuals came from Spirit Hall, worried that I am involved with Spirit Hall. As long as I can explain the origin of these powerful individuals, this matter will naturally be dropped."
"What do you plan to do?" Xue Qinghe looked up at Shi Quan.
Shi Quan reached into his hundred treasure pouch, and a corpse frozen in ice appeared in the room.
Xue Qinghe stared at the corpse, stunned, his eyes turning bloodshot as he stared at the corpse and said, "You killed Tang Hao?"
"That's right." Shi Quan nodded and said, "When I went to the Star Dou Great Forest to acquire a spirit ring, Tang Hao, I don't know where he got the news, secretly followed us to the Star Dou Great Forest, wanting to keep me there forever. However, his assassination failed, and instead, he fell into our hands…"